Carry On, Cather
by Nuggety
Summary: Carrying on from right at the end of Fangirl, this story covers how Cath, Wren, Levi and the rest carry on after the end of the Simon Snow saga.
1. The End of her Chapter

She was almost done. So very, incredibly almost done.

The words had been flowing out of her for days now, her fingers hitting her laptop's keys like raindrops pelting tarmac during a brutal storm. She'd never written like this before in her life, not even on days when hundreds of lines of dialog between Simon and Baz had been put to paper before she'd had a chance to have breakfast. She'd written in frenzies before, written until cramp had forced her fingers to stop moving, or until Wren had finally slammed her laptop shut after hours of Cath promising "just one last chapter, Wren, I think this is where Simon finally realises his feelings for Baz are true", but this was something else; this time round, there was a deadline to meet, a deadline so crucial, Cath hadn't had time to think about anything else.

Well, _almost _anything else. It was hard not to think about Levi sometimes, especially when the ending of Simon Snow (or, more specifically, _her _ending) had been written mostly from underneath the covers of his king-sized bed in his room. Six months ago, she never would have imagined that _Carry On, Simon_ would be finished anywhere but her own room at home in Omaha, or, at a push, in her shared dorm room, Reagan making snarky remarks about her being Nebraska's biggest recluse. Here she was, though, swaddled in Levi's duvet, typing away like her life depended on it. She was wearing one of his sweatshirts, and although it was faint, she could still detect the scent of coffee mixed with something slightly spicy – a smell she'd come to recognise as Levi's favourite cologne, and, by extension, as Levi himself.

In the fleeting moments when Cath's mind wasn't submerged in a world full of magic and Mages, like in the infrequent breaks she took to go to the bathroom or to devour an energy bar, she marvelled at the fact that Levi was dealing with this so well. Cath would be the first to admit: she was acting more than slightly crazy. She doubted Gemma T. Leslie had locked herself away and had had zero regard for her own personal wellbeing during the writing of _Simon Snow and the Eighth Dance_, and somewhere far in the back of her mind, Cath knew that she shouldn't be doing that, either. But Cath had also never felt the burn of a deadline so badly. The drive and desire to finish not just some silly little personal project, but a journey that was shared by thousands of people across the globe, was far too large.

Levi was handling Cath's writing escapade less well than Cath realised, though. The closer his girlfriend got to her self-established cut-off day, a day he jokingly called "Simon's Death Day" (even though he wasn't sure Simon actually died in Cath's story; she refused to read anything to him until the last word had been decided upon), the more worried Levi got about her. Her writing schedules weren't healthy at all, and it was all Levi could do to remind her to eat and sleep and take a goddamn break from time to time. He silently thanked the gods again and again for the fact that Cath at least wasn't falling behind of coursework – he'd made sure of that as soon as he'd realised that Cath had Simon Snow on the brain, and would have until April 30th.

"Cath? Sweetheart?" He'd said after coming home from a late night Starbucks shift six days ago. "Earth to Cather?"

"Mmmhm?" Cath had murmered, glancing up from the unnatural light her laptop screen was emitting. Her eyes looked dim and unfocussed, like she hadn't been blinking much. If it wasn't for the endless amount of mugs surrounding her on his bed, Levi would have sworn she hadn't moved an inch since he'd left six hours ago.

He had moved over to her, a paper cup in his hands. "Hey, Mr Snow," he had said, having slipped under the covers next to her, aiming his words at the screen that transfixed his girlfriend. "Can I borrow Cath for a second? I know you want her attention, but I have a perfectly blended Gingerbread Latte here, and it'd be a shame for it me to drink it all myself..."

Cath had looked up at him, glasses askew, and had smiled a tiny smile. "You're too good to me. You know that, right?" she had said, and had shut her laptop after having smashed _Ctrl + s _several times first. Levi had put his arm around her, and she was already melting into him. She'd missed this – they hadn't had any proper alone time for days.

Levi had pressed the Latte into her hands and had kissed her forehead. "Cath, you can't write forever, you know."

"I just have to finish this, there are so many loose ends to tie up, and-"

"Did you finish your Fiction class story?"

Cath had frowned. "No, I just, I needed Simon to-"

"You _didn't_ finish it?"

Cath looked at her hands, abashed. "No. I just...no."

Levi had swallowed and had had to close his eyes for a moment. He would have killed to have had an extra opportunity to redo any of his assignments for any of his classes. The fact that Cath was continuously throwing away this one-off chance had grated at him in a way nothing ever had before.

"Cather...You promised me. You promised me you'd work on it."

Cath hadn't been able to look him in the eye. Fatigue and stress and worry had made her lose her ability to think up any kind of excuse or apology.

Levi had turned towards her, removing his arm from around her. "Cath, I'm forbidding you from doing this any longer. This...this isn't good, this isn't good for you. You've been holed up for days, you've got college you're neglecting, and if you don't hand in that story, college won't even be a thing you can neglect, Cather."

Cath had dared glance up at him, expecting to see anger, frustration, maybe even disappointment in his eyes. Instead, his face had been a mask of worry. It had made Cath feel a whole range of emotions and she couldn't distinguish any of them. Not knowing what she could say and feeling slightly broken somehow on the inside, she had leant against Levi's shoulder and had started to cry, spilling almost all of her Gingerbread Latte onto Levi's cream-coloured mattress protector.

They had talked for hours after that, Levi's shirt soaked with Cath's tears and his bed with her coffee. They had talked about anything, about everything, about tiny trivial things, but mostly about Cath's unhealthy relationship with that Simon Snow fanfiction. Levi had tried to understand where Cath was coming from, the fact that she needed to finish that story on time, if only for herself. Cath, in turn, had tried desperately to let Levi's pep talks and infectious smiles finally fill her with the motivation she had always lacked for that particular fiction assignment.

A few days later, with Levi's constant encouragement, Cath had finished and submitted her short story 38 minutes before her professor's deadline. A massive weight felt like it had been lifted from her shoulders. She could concentrate on her own deadline now, and Levi had agreed to let her pour her heart and soul into the world of Simon Snow for a little while longer at her own alarmingly rapid pace, as long as she let him keep an eye on her. She agreed – of course she agreed.

And that was how Cath ended up in Levi's bed at one o'clock in the morning on Monday the 30th of April, having typed the final sentence to two year and 356,213 word long chapter of her life.


	2. Who Doesn't Like Eggs?

It hadn't really sunk in by the time she woke up the next morning. She'd spent almost two hours after having written those final words on facebook chat with Wren, editing and editing and editing until both sisters were completely, 100% content.

Editing would have been much easier in person, of course, or but the last thing Cath had wanted to do was disturb Levi; he'd been working late shifts like a maniac for a week straight, and she knew that he was exhausting himself. His eyes had become less bright, and there was a tiredness showing underneath, making his eyelids look bluish and almost bruised. She wouldn't forgive herself for robbing him of sleep and rest, and besides – she liked him when he slept. He looked years younger, more vulnerable, and from time to time he'd smile. Not his typical I-am-a-ball-of-happiness-I-am-the-sun-personified smile, but a small one, one where the left side of his mouth was raised higher than the right, creating a dimple in his left cheek. To Cath, this smile was just as much a Levi smile as the massive grin she'd fallen for.

Wren had pushed her to use Skype or even just call her. _It'd be soooo much quicker? _She had typed, _and besides, Levi sleeps through EVERYTHING_.

This was true, to some extent at least. Cath had slept at Levi's a few nights a week for just over a month now, and not once had Levi woken up during one of Cath's many midnight bathroom breaks (it was her writing curse: to write, she needed tea, and when she had tea, she needed to write. Nightly toilet visits had always been inevitable). He'd even managed to sleep through a tremendous thunderstorm two nights ago, a storm so powerful that the power had gone out throughout the whole city and that Cath had not been able to drown out with all of the music in the world. Still, Cath wanted to play it on the safe side, and so she had emailed Wren the final three chapters of _Carry On, Simon_ and they back-and-forthed on facebook, tweaking ends and tying knots, weaving the final threads of Baz, Simon and Cath's epic journey.

Wren had wanted Cath to upload the ending there and then, but Cath had refused. She wanted to read it to Levi before she set it free into the world.

Levi still wasn't awake though by the time she'd got up, had taken what was probably the longest, most cleansing shower she'd had in days, and had dressed herself. She'd expected to see some form of life coming from his side of the bed as she'd walked out of his en-suite, but aside from some incredible snoring (did big mouths contribute to snoring problems?) Levi was still as good as dead to the world.

Cath decided to make her way downstairs to the kitchen Levi shared with five other dudes. She was absolutely ravenous. It was as if the weight of ending _Carry On, Simon_ had suppressed her appetite, and now that it had returned, it had come back with a vengeance. She felt like she could eat a horse, no, _two _horses, and about seven three-course meals on the side. Levi always brought up food to her before he went to work or class, but she always ended up grazing and nibbling at bits of chicken or carrots. Food had been so off of her mind for lately, she wouldn't have been able to tell you if Levi was a good cook or not. It may have even been take-out, for all she knew.

There were already two people lounging on bar stools when Cath entered the kitchen. One of them was Levi's housemate, whom she had met already a few times before.

"Well, well – look who we have here!" the guy exclaimed. "You're alive! I was so sure that Levi had locked you in his lair and was using you as a sex slave."

"I think you're getting me mixed up with the plot of _Fifty Shades of Grey, _Bennie," Cath replied, opening the refrigerator to examine its contents. Bennie's to-the-point humour had shocked Cath at first, especially as most of it was of a vaguely sexual nature. She'd gotten used to it though, thank God. Not that it made Bennie any easier to talk to, but it was a start, at least.

The guy called Bennie turned to the person next to him. "Ced, this is Levi's girlfriend and part-time hermit, Cather."

"Cath, it's just Cath," Cath automatically corrected, even though she'd actually got used to people calling her Cather now. Levi was one hell of an influential guy.

"Hi," Ced said to her, taking a sip of what was presumably coffee – it was all anybody ever drank in this house, it seemed – and raising his mug to her in an acquainting gesture.

Before Cath had time to open her mouth and say something back, Bennie had moved on with his introductions. "Cather, this is Cedric, a mechanical engineering student and a special friend."

"Special friend?" Cath repeated, the air quotations obvious in her voice. She didn't really want to engage in conversation with Bennie and his 'special friend', but she couldn't help it – she was curious.

"Friend with benefits," Ced elaborated, his face dead-pan. He kept sipping his coffee. Bennie was in the process of buttering a slice of wholemeal toast. Cath had no idea how to respond. Was he serious? Knowing Bennie, he probably was, but what if he wasn't? Bennie joked about this kind of stuff continuously. Would it not be weird if she didn't laugh, or at least comment on it?

She then realised that, during this internal dilemma, she had stood frozen in front of the open fridge, a carton of eggs in her hand. Bennie turned to look at her and chuckled. "God, Cather, calm down dear. No need to go red in the face now!" He leant towards Ced and mock-whispered, "Cather is an..._innocent_ little flower, Ced, it's not for us to besmirch her integrity here." Ced smirked into and drowned the dregs in his cup.

"Besmirch? I am _not_...I know what it means, I-" Cath felt even more blood rising to her face.

Bennie all but leapt up and put a hand on Cath's shoulder. "It's okay, Cather, I'm just playing with you." He then proceeded to swivel on one foot, reminding her of a very chunky, buff ballerina. "Come, Ced, we have things to see! People to do!" he exclaimed, grabbing Ced's hand and dragging him out into the hallway. Ced only just had time to whacked his mug down onto the counter and give Cath a quick wink, before being carted off outside by Bennie.

Cath shook her head and exhaled. She felt her face, and she knew by the warmth coming off of it that it resembled a tomato. "Damn you, Bennie..." she murmured, closing the fridge door and placing her eggs down on the polished marble counter. She picked up Ced's empty mug and examined it. There was a hairline crack running right from the top of the cup to the bottom. It was then she realised the mug was one of Levi's. "_Damn you, Bennie!" _She repeated.

After throwing the mug into the trashcan under the sink, Cath finally started on her eggs. She figured she might as well make enough for Levi as well – what guy doesn't want to be woken up to the sight and smell of perfectly scrambled eggs? Well, probably somebody who doesn't like eggs. Or has an egg phobia. Are egg phobias even a legit thing? Cath didn't know.

She ended up making two rounds of scrambled eggs and bacon on toast, coffee for Levi, and a mug of peppermint tea for herself. Just before she made her way upstairs, Cath checked the time. The digital radio alarm perched on the shelf above the stove read 11:05. Much earlier than she'd thought, really. Not early enough to let Levi be for any longer though, alas; the anticipation of getting the rest of her story online was eating at her at an equally ferocious rate as the hunger in her belly was. She wiped down the counter top, drenched Levi's plate in maple syrup (the notion of maple syrup on eggs disgusted her, but she'd learned very quickly in their relationship that Levi loved the notion of maple syrup on _anything_) and made her way back up several flights of stairs to Levi's top-floor bedroom, plates and mugs balancing precariously in her arms.

Levi _still _hadn't woken up yet, and Cath swore she'd been downstairs for at least half an hour. Setting her own plate and mug down as carefully as she possibly could, Cath shuffled over to Levi's side of the bed, put his coffee on the table beside him, and sat next to him. Holding the steaming plate of eggs and bacon underneath his nose, she gently shook him until she heard a blurry "Muhhuhmm- Cathurrr?"

She leaned in and kissed his forehead. It felt odd, like she was invading his space, but not completely unnatural. Levi's eyes shifted into focus, and he smiled his big, lovable smile straight up at her. "What's this?" he said, pointing to the plate she was holding.

"Breakfast, idiot," she replied, smiling at him. "I thought you had might as well eat whilst I read to you."


End file.
